Women’s Fall/Winter 2022 Fashion Week shows: LVMH Maisons reinvent the feminine wardrobe from Milan to Paris

Dior 

For its Fall/Winter 2022-2023 Ready-to-Wear runway show, Dior featured artist Marielle Bettineschi and “The Next Era”, her concept installation that appropriates portraits of women spanning the history of painting from the 16th to the 19th century. With stacked and cut up eyes, the show’s gallery-set challenges the judgment that has and continues to condition women, suggesting another reading of art history. The collection breathes life into Maria Grazia Chiuri’s concepts, notably crafting a performative relationship between body and garment in a perspective that associates forms, savoir-faire, materials and futuristic technologies. Monsieur Dior’s iconic Bar jacket is revisited with innovative techniques developed by D-Air lab, an Italian startup founded in 2015 by Lino Dainese, where materials regulate the body temperature. The Next Era is also a temporal short-circuit with unsuspected creativity that elevates technical and noble materials such as nylon and cashmere. This inspiration led to a reappropriation of the iconic Roger Vivier for Dior pump through the possibilities of embroidery, an example of exceptional craftsmanship enhanced by a technical fabric yoke around the ankle. The collection expresses the complexity of fashion by revisiting heritage to conceive the lines of tomorrow, a journey that shapes the artifacts of a new world, another world to be made and invented.

Patou

For his Fall/Winter 2022-2023 ready-to-wear collection, Patou Creative Director Guillaume Henry infuses his creations with a spirit of realism and easygoing charm. Designer dreams are reimagined to craft a world that mirrors his ethos, staging two model friends dubbed the “Patou Two”. One is a sporty aesthete who loves the outdoors, while the other is perfectly content cocooning in her country home just outside Paris. One inspires an earthy palette where beige, olive green and black meld, the other welcomes pastel shades with blooming blue, lilac and pink hues. The two friends both place priority on wearable comfort, echoing Guillaume Henry’s vision  of a wardrobe that lets individual personality shine.

Givenchy

For the new Givenchy Women’s and Men’s ready-to-wear collection, Creative Director Matthew M. Williams elevates the ordinary to extraordinary. The silhouettes present a practical luxury with an interplay of multiple American and Parisian influences, sports and craftsmanship. Nothing is overly precious, even when the materials are: worn denim welcomes spectacular sequins and pearls in homage to founder Hubert de Givenchy’s sense of ornamentality. Classicism and radicalism are united in a play on layered volumes and textures. Washed jersey is contrasted with classic tailoring, while wide pants and voluminous overcoats work in contrast. A practical palette of rich browns, greens, grays and blacks elevate delicately hand embroidered transparent dresses and disheveled ruffled dresses. In this new wardrobe, a powerful, sophisticated woman stands next to a contemporary man with chic nonchalance.

Loewe

The new collection designed by Loewe Creative Director Jonathan Anderson is a bold declaration of creative genesis. Touch is celebrated and movement is caught as objects are trapped in the silhouettes and balloons are shaped into pieces. Molded dresses, trompe l’œil shoes and puffer blousons are elevated in a skillful play of materials mixing leather, felt, tweed, knit, 3D printed fiber, latex, silk and resin. Flamenco and Goya bags are puffed up and the Puzzle becomes dazzling solid colors. The set for the show revealed two works by artist Anthea Hamilton. Guests entered through a monumental reproduction of her work Aquarius, a reflection on the idealization of the male body, followed by a space populated with giant pumpkins crafted in leather in collaboration with Loewe. The wardrobe designed by Jonathan Anderson breaks with archetypes to welcome a surrealist world.

Louis Vuitton

Shown at the Musée d’Orsay, the new wardrobe created by Nicolas Ghesquière, Artistic Director for Louis Vuitton Women’s collections, draws inspiration from adolescence, a time free of conformity, comprised of mélange, dissonance and resonance. The collection is without constraint, focused on freedom of movement and meticulous work with materials and the hybridization of clothing.  Chunky sweaters are tied around the waist over rugby polos. Oversized cardigans are worn with silk trousers, and images by photographer David Sims are embroidered on pieces. Flower drawings inspired by the 19th century embellish cloqué silks and embroideries, along with a multitude of jacquard techniques and variations on tweed. The new collection is a celebration of the beautiful volatility of adolescence, a fleeting and decisive moment. Freedom is everything, without directive or impediment.

Stellla McCartney

For her new Fall/Winter 2022 collection presented at the Centre Pompidou, Stella McCartney was inspired by the career of painter and sculptor Frank Stella. Entitled “Stella by Stella”, the collection spans the influence of both minimalism and maximalist abstractionism on the New York art scene. Silk and viscose dresses are decorated with Frank Stella’s Ahab print, while embroidered chain fringe references the artist’s metallic sculptures. Wardrobe accessories include a new Monogram shoulder bag and sneakers made from bio-based materials, including grape leather sourced from Italian wineries. The artist’s workwear uniform is elevated with functional details and rich fabrics. Denim jackets and pants are joined by cotton pants and recycled polyester belts. The collection fuses fashion and art, reflecting Stella women who are both creators and collectors.